Hot Stove Economics

The final out of the World Series marks the beginning of baseball's second season, when teams court free agents and orchestrate trades with the hope of building a championship contender. The real and anticipated transactions generate excitement among fans who discuss the merit of moves in the arena informally known as the "hot stove league." In Hot Stove Economics, economist J.C. Bradbury answers the hot stove league's most important question: what are baseball players worth? With in-depth analysis, Bradbury identifies the game's best and worst contracts-revealing the bargains, duds, and players who are worth every penny they receive. From minor-league prospects to major-league MVPs, Bradbury examines how factors such as revenue growth, labor rules, and aging- even down to the month in which players are born-shape players' worth and evaluates how well franchises manage their rosters. He broadly applies the principles of economics to baseball in a way that is both interesting and understandable to sports fanatics, team managers, armchair economists and students alike. "J.C. Bradbury is the preeminent analyst of baseball economics in the world." Tyler Cowen, George Mason University and marginalrevolution.com "There's no more complaining that you can't understand the economics of the game after this book. Bradbury's clear and entertaining style makes the hardcore economics that drive the game accessible to someone like me, who can't balance a checkbook!" Will Carroll, Senior Writer, Baseball Prospectus "During the summer and fall baseball fans live and die with the success and failures of their favorite teams. But the source of all this emotion - as J.C. Bradbury demonstrates in Hot Stove Economics - are the decisions made in the winter. Such decisions depend upon the information available to teams and how this is evaluated. Bradbury provides a guide to decision-making that will not only help the fanunderstand what their favorite team is doing, but also probably help more than a few teams do more to please their fans." David Berri, Southern Utah University and author of The Wages of Wins